Tag Archives: Leife Shallcross

Conflux 12 Red Fire Monkey is done!

Convention Book Cover by Shauna O’Meara

Here’s what our members had to say about it:

Elizabeth Fitzgerald‘s report dives deep into the panels she attended: Part One and Part Two.

Tim Napper‘s report comes primarily from the bar, where the writing conversation is good and the rugby league grand final participation rates are disappointingly low: The Writer’s Training Regime Part V.

Leife Shallcross split her report into two photo-filled parts: Part One and Part Two.

With the busy business of Conflux and the CSFG AGM now behind us, it’s time to celebrate the wins, the milestones and the culmination of grand schemes that take us ever closer to our perhaps-overshared secret goal of WORLD DOMINATION!

In other words, here’s what our lovely and brilliant members have achieved over the past few months that they would like to share with the world.

Novels

It’s a pretty huge deal to get a publishing contract, so we’re very pleased to have not one but two members with exciting book deals to announce:

Sam Hawke has taken the first step toward an exciting publishing debut with a two book deal with Tor. Her first novel, City of Lies, is the first book in The Poison Wars epic fantasy series. Here’s the official Tor announcement! And here’s what Sam had to say over at her blog: My Best Boring Story (hint: it’s not boring, it’s super exciting!)

Zena Shapter has announced the sale of her new novel Towards White to IWFG Publishing. (Here’s the press release) And as if that were not enough,just this week Zena launched the middle grade science fiction novel Into Tordon (co-written by 9! authors under the name Z. F Kingbolt) from Midnight Sun. Check it out!

Leife Shallcross has a story called ‘Breathing’ in this month’s Aurealis #95 (which went out to subscribers as I was writing this post, so consider it hot off the presses!)

Zena Shapter‘s had a busy few months. As well as her novels, her story ‘Made’ is about to appear in the anthology Let Us In Volume 3 from Time Alone Press. As well as that, her story ‘Let the Tempest Hold Me Down’ has been included in the new collection of stories Sci Phi Journal, Q1 2016: The Journal of Science Fiction and Philosophy (Volume 1).

Committee News

This week’s CSFG Annual General Meeting saw the turnover of the Committee and the appointment of a new President:

Angus Yeates has succeeded Leife Shallcross as the World Dominator-in-Chief of the CSFG. Congratulations to Angus for stepping up to become our human shield glorious leader!

Angus is joined on the Committee by returning members Rik Lagarto, Mitchell Akhurst (Secretary) and Leife Shallcross, and new volunteers Louise Peiper (Vice President) and Amelia Cook.

Update! Also Simon Petrie, who has returned to the Committee from his adventures wandering the outer dimensions, and will share the secrets he has learned with those who show promise of greatness by matching him pun for pun!

David Versace has agreed to remain as a vague spectral presence somewhere near the corner of the Committee’s eye until such time as a new Treasurer can be successfully summoned and bound.

Our thanks and congratulations to the outgoing Committee and a hearty welcome to the fresh-faced, match-fit newcomers!

Life Memberships

As its final act, the outgoing Committee conferred lifetime memberships of the Guild to two long-time members who have made outstanding contributions to the Canberra speculative fiction community and to the Australian genre landscape. This was the first time since the Rules were amended in 2015 that this honour has been conferred.

Nicole Murphy and Kaaron Warren are long-standing members of CSFG who have both made remarkable impacts over the years.

The new life members, flanked by outgoing and incoming CSFG Presidents. (Leife, Nicole, Kaaron, Angus)

Nicole (who also writes as romance author Elizabeth Dunk) has been a CSFG member, a Committee member of multiple Conflux conventions, the organiser of the Conflux Writers Day and a convenor for the Aurealis Awards. Somehow between all that she has had nine novels and dozens of shorts stories published.

Kaaron is the author of five novels – the latest of which, The Grief Hole, was launched at the National Library in August – and over a hundred short stories (including six collections, one of which was published by CSFG). Kaaron has been awarded or shortlisted for almost every horror fiction prize going, here and overseas; she won a Shirley Jackson Award in 2013 for her novella ‘Sky’ (which also picked up the Aurealis, Ditmar and Australian Shadows awards. It’s really good!).

Congratulations to our new Life Members – may they go on to ever greater accomplishments (for which CSFG will then shamelessly claim partial credit)!